Disco Zoo
[[image:Disco Zoo Icon 1.png|frame|Outdated Disco Zoo icon — it now features the Unicorn instead of the Elephant.]] Disco Zoo is a zoo simulation mobile game developed by Milkbag Games and published by NimbleBit and released for iOS and Android on February 21, 2014. Overview The game puts players in charge of a virtual zoo known as Disco Zoo. While the zoo starts out as more of a ranch with only farm animals available, it quickly can expand to include wild animals from various environments, first starting out with the Australian Outback and followed over time by the African savanna, the northern boreal forest, the polar regions (covers both north and south poles), and the jungles of the world. After this the game dips into science fiction, with the next two biomes featuring dinosaurs from the Jurassic and mammalian life from the Ice Age. It then returns to reality for the City and Mountain biomes. Two final biomes are revealed at the endgame that are not initially viewable from the Airport Hangar — the Moon and Mars, for a final return to science fiction. The goal of the game is to rescue animals for display in your zoo, with greater numbers of the same animal increasing how much cash that they produce. Upon rescuing your first example of an animal the enclosure must be constructed, taking seconds, minutes, or hours depending on the complexity of the structure. After this enclosure is completed, the exhibit can begin earning the player money and all specimens of that species will be displayed therein. Animals are all rescued via a mini-game. The user must select a region to explore from their airport hangar to the left of the zoo entrance and press the "Start Rescue" button. Each recurring attempt will increase in price to go there. This minigame takes the player to a 5x5 grid with the animals that can currently be found in the area being displayed at the top of the screen. Each animal has its own pattern to look out for and various strategies can be employed to better your chances at finding them in as few of moves as possible. You only have a limited number of tile flips to use, with later biomes give more chances to find animals. Similar to a game of Battleship, you must completely uncover an animal to actually rescue it. If you fail to rescue all animals, you have the opportunity to watch a short ad or play a short game demo to get 5 free extra flips, although if you do this strategy too many times on a single board it will become unavailable. Besides animals you can also find in-game currency (coins) and premium currency (Discobux); Discobux will take up the slot of a possible animal type and 1 or 2 may appear on the board. There are six different animals to collect in each of the game's 12 regions. Each region has 3 common species, two rare, and a mythical creature which, generally speaking, is the only one not based on a confirmed-to-exist animal. These are typically based off of creatures from mythology. Moon and Martian animals are almost exclusively not real creatures as well, though the Moon has a few creatures that are meant as puns such as the Luna Moth and the Lunar Tick. Each pen can hold 25 of that particular animal and any caught beyond this number will be freed for coins, with the progress going towards statues you will earn. Occasionally the game will offer to buy a random animal off of you for a set amount of coins. Discobux can be used to buy hats for your exhibits as well as personalize their enclosures somewhat, but its best use is to activate the disco party from the entrance of the zoo. This will awaken all animals that have fallen asleep as well as double the amount of coins received from exhibits; additionally, a disco ball will appear at the top of the screen while disco music plays and both animals and patrons dance for the party's duration. When a disco is not in progress, animals are subject to falling asleep after a specified time, after which they will not earn coins until the user wakes them up. Short discos will happen for free if a trophy is earned from releasing set numbers of animals. Players can choose to hold parties for one minute, one hour, or eight hours, depending on the amount of Discobux they choose to spend. Reception Disco Zoo has been received fairly well by critics, who described the game as fitting in well with previous "fun Nimblebit-style titles", but some reviewers expressed concerns about players eventually becoming uninterested in continuing to play the game. Metacritic gave an aggregated score of 70/100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". TouchArcade rated it 4 out of 5 stars, noting it "perfectly fits on the App Store shelves next to Tiny Tower, Nimble Quest and their other titles". PC Magazine also rated it 4 out of 5, saying the game has "a quirky theme, lots of gameplay, and a heaping of adorableness". 148Apps' 4 star rating described it as "a nice and charming game", but was concerned "that feeling that it's possible to just quit at any time does ultimately drag it down." Pocket Gamer gave it 3 stars, calling it an "artfully constructed free-to-play time ... spinner." However, USgamer only rated it 1.5/5, with its overall conclusion being "a polished title with a couple of nice ideas completely undermined by boring mechanics and obtrusive, game-breaking monetization." Exhibit Gallery Sheep Disco Zoo.png|Sheep Pig Disco Zoo.png|Pig Rabbit Disco Zoo.png|Rabbit Horse Disco Zoo.png|Horse Cow Disco Zoo.png|Cow Unicorn Disco Zoo.png|Unicorn Kangaroo Disco Zoo.png|Kangaroo Platypus Disco Zoo.png|Platypus Crocodiles Disco Zoo.png|Crocodile Koala Disco Zoo.png|Koala Cockatoo Disco Zoo.png|Cockatoo Tiddalik.png|Tiddalik Zebra Disco Zoo.png|Zebra Hippo Disco Zoo.png|Hippo Giraffe Disco Zoo.png|Giraffe Lion Disco Zoo.png|Lion Elephant Disco Zoo.png|Elephant Gryphon Disco Zoo.png|Gryphon Bear Disco Zoo.png|Bear Skunk Disco Zoo.png|Skunk Beaver Disco Zoo.png|Beaver Moose Disco Zoo.png|Moose Fox Disco Zoo.png|Fox Sasquatch Disco Zoo.png|Sasquatch Penguin Disco Zoo.png|Penguin Seal Disco Zoo.png|Seal Muskox Disco Zoo.png|Muskox Polar Bear Disco Zoo.png|Polar Bear Walrus Disco Zoo.png|Walrus Yeti Disco Zoo.png|Yeti Moonkey Disco Zoo.png|Moonkey Lunar Tick Disco Zoo.png|Lunar Tick Tribble Disco Zoo.png|Tribble Moonicorn Disco Zoo.png|Moonicorn Luna Moth Disco Zoo.png|Luna Moth Jade Rabbit Disco Zoo.png|Jade Rabbit Monkey Disco Zoo.png|Monkey Toucan Disco Zoo.png|Toucan Gorilla Disco Zoo.png|Gorilla Panda Disco Zoo.png|Panda Tiger Disco Zoo.png|Tiger Phoenix Disco Zoo.png|Phoenix Diplodocus Disco Zoo.png|Diplodocus Stegosaurus Disco Zoo.png|Stegosaurus Raptor Disco Zoo.png|Raptor T-Rex Disco Zoo.png|T-Rex Triceratops Disco Zoo.png|Triceratops Dragon Disco Zoo.png|Dragon Wooly Rhino Disco Zoo.png|Wooly Rhino Giant Sloth Disco Zoo.png|Giant Sloth Dire Wolf Disco Zoo.png|Dire Wolf Saber Tooth Disco Zoo.png|Saber Tooth Mammoth Disco Zoo.png|Mammoth Akhlut Disco Zoo.png|Akhlut Raccoon Disco Zoo.png|Raccoon Pigeon Disco Zoo.png|Pigeon Rat Disco Zoo.png|Rat Squirrel Disco Zoo.png|Squirrel Opossum Disco Zoo.png|Opossum Sewer Turtle Disco Zoo.png|Sewer Turtle Goat Disco Zoo.png|Goat Cougar Disco Zoo.png|Cougar Elk Disco Zoo.png|Elk Eagle Disco Zoo.png|Eagle Coyote Disco Zoo.png|Coyote Aatxe Disco Zoo.png|Aatxe Category:Disco Zoo Category:Mobile Games Category:IOS Games Category:Simulations Category:Zoo Simulators Category:2010's-2020's Games Category:Games by Milkbag Games Category:Games by NimbleBit